The diary of a Saudi man, currently living in the United Kingdom, where the Religious Police no longer trouble him for the moment.

In Memory of the lives of 15 Makkah Schoolgirls, lost when their school burnt down on Monday, 11th March, 2002. The Religious Police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the Firemen to enter.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Two More News Releases...

...from the Ministry of Truth's Directorate of Morale-Building Good News for Gullible Citizens (formerly the Directorate of Complete Bullshit for Complete Idiots)

RIYADH, 3 June 2004 — Saudi security forces yesterday gunned down two terror suspects in a gunbattle at Hada near Taif, the Interior Ministry said, linking the pair to the recent attacks in Alkhobar.

What link? They were the same species? They all spoke Arabic? Are we really meant to believe that the same Alkhobar terrorists who apologized to our Elite Forces, and thereby escaped, made it across the entire width of the country, 700 miles as the crow flies, far more by road, going thru at least 6 permanent roadblocks (unless they went more conspicuously, and even more slowly, cross-country) to end up in Taif, one dressed as a woman, who then happened to be spotted by police in an isolated area? Did they interrogate the corpses? Did they, as a commenter has suggested, already have the "Alkhobar Massacre" T-shirts?

The government is clearly very embarrassed and scared by its lack of success. They are grabbing at straws. Let's hope that those two were actually guilty of something.

ABDUL Wahid Al-Humaid, Labor Ministry under-secretary for Planning Affairs emphasizes that all areas of work are open for Saudi women as long as the jobs do not conflict with the Islamic teachings and traditions of the society or lead to the mingling of men with women.

The rate of unemployment among Saudi women is 21.7 percent according to the statistics released in the year 2003, he says, noting that all government offices have been told to identify jobs that can be filled by Saudi women so that they may directly deal with female service seekers.

"as long as the jobs do not conflict with the Islamic teachings and traditions of the society or lead to the mingling of men with women" - well that gives women a lot of scope, as I've noted before.

- In Womens' branches of Banks (and you need serious "Wasta" (influence) to get one of those)
- teaching girls in Girls' schools
- In the extremely rare, e.g. the Kingdom Shopping Center in Riyadh, all-women shopping floors.

It reminds me of Henry Ford's "any color as long as it's black"

The unemployment figure of 21.7% is complete fiction. For employable women of employable age, try about 98%. Saudi women give up thinking about a career at an early age. That's why we have one of the highest birthrates in the world, bringinging forth the next generation of unemployed young men and women.